Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of Inuyasha, and I make no profit from the posting of this work.
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She walked, she pedaled, she soared through the air, and every day she thought of silvered hair and golden eyes.
Sometimes the hair flowed down into a sharp contrast against a swath of strong-soft-red, and the eyes were often narrowed in frustration.
Sometimes the hair slid smoothly lower, lower, until you finally realized that the silver was no longer hair but armor, and the eyes were often narrowed in cold deliberation.
She wasn't sure when the former had really started, and certainly not when it began to occasionally be the latter. But when the latter took over entirely, and the strong-soft-red cloth beneath her clutching hands became nothing more than a distant memory, she knew.
Somewhere between the hut where poor old Kaede had lived out her days and the well that grew smooth and worn with use as months and years flew by, the change had come.
Somewhere between that simple building now filled by an eager young miko she barely knew and the dry stone structure leading to a place that saw more and more use as time crept on, she had met him.
Not for the first time, of course – the first time she met him was a study in shock, fear, and anger, not the quiet wonder and slow amazement of the time she nearly tripped over his sword in the dusk. Those meetings were like nothing she'd ever experienced before, a strange playtime with a sweet and lonely little girl followed by a few whispered words of debate and compromise or perhaps only a silent exchange of glares and glances.
Those meetings grew rapidly in frequency, as did her sightings of a certain red-clad cretin with his thin lips pressed to cold ones made of clay, and her reaction to such sightings diminished until it was nothing more than pitying remorse.
She would always remember the day that began in blood and ended in clear hot waters, the day that started with tears of horror and finished with tears of happiness. She would always remember the two monuments raised upon the battlefield, and her joy at only having to make two. One for a pair of star-crossed lovers who could finally rest together, one for an evil so extreme it should never be forgotten – just in case.
That day she saw the contrast between the golden eyes hazed with pained regret as they closed for the last time and the golden eyes tinged with begrudging respect, and she wondered how she had ever thought they looked the same.
These days she reveled in the sound of the laughter of two children following behind them as they trekked to the house filled with three arguing adults and an ever-increasing population of infants. She reveled in her newfound strength, untarnished by any constraint against her visiting her family and walking in a future world.
These days she knew that she would never have to choose, that she could live through certain years as many times as needed and never feel the pain of twisted loss.
These days, all she had to do to see the heavens was ask and close her eyes.
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A/N: Hullo to anyone still reading, I hope you liked this fifteen-minute piece of fluff. This is my first venture into the world of Inuyasha, suddenly inspired by the intriguing poem "Unrequited" by FrameofMind. I hope that it is neither too vague nor too obvious, and please feel free to ask questions or demand revision if it was. Hint hint - any reviews are much appreciated.
